Another edition of We Recommend, in which we do our very best to solve book-related questions, needs, and other miscellany, and then turn them over to you, the readers, who really solve them. Need help finding the right book? E-mail us with some information about your reader, likes and dislikes, and anything else, and we'll do our best. Now, on to our current challenge!
As we all know, little kids are pretty much, well, nuts (not like us, who are veritable paragons of sanity). We have a rush recommendation situation, from someone who says:
My daughter is
turning three, and is obsessed with books that have anything to do with a
doctor. Maybe "obsessed" is too strong a word, but she does get excited
when she sees a doctor in any kind of book, and we have to stay on that page for
awhile. So, we have a dollar store version of the Velveteen Rabbit that
someone gave us a year or so ago, and my daughter was not interested in it at
all until I read part of it about the boy getting sick and the doctor saying all
the toys with germs had to be tossed out. She really wants a copy of the
book with an illustration of the actual doctor. Are you or your readers
aware of any such version? I'm sort of in a hurry, her birthday is
Saturday…
What seems so odd to me in this is that the doctor is more or less the bad guy, "He mustn't have that anymore. Burn it at once." But, there you go. There were often odd interests in various books (the shoe page!) that can never fully be explained.
Sadly, our copy has no picture of the doctor. But does anyone know of one? Help a parent out….
marcialerner.com 
The Richard Scarry books have lots of stories with doctors — I think the one about people and their jobs although I can’t remember the title. I do remember a scene where a little mouse is sick to his stomach and the doctor tells him to “go easy on the cheese, please.” My boys loved, loved , loved all those books when they were little.
LikeLike
It doesn’t sound likely that there’s a Velveteen Rabbit version with a doctor picture, but you could fairly easily paste one up from Internet photos, the way people make “social stories” for autistic kids.
LikeLike
Mine does not. Sorry. But, may I recommend while we are here “How Do Dinosaurs Get Well Soon?” In the first place, I love these books and the illustrations are awesome. But also, great Doctor pics in this one.
LikeLike
Not to mention great dinosaurs with wonderful long names.
Does she have “Doctor Dan, the Bandage Man?”
LikeLike
Well, I hope the making-your-own book thing worked. Clearly this mom wanted to read The Velveteen Rabbit, which is one of my very own favorite and embarrassingly tear-inducing books, but her doctor-focused daughter is steering her in the wrong direction. Alas. I’m guessing next time we hear from her she will be deep in the “Curious George Goes to the Hospital” or Franklin’s similar vein. Good luck to her!
LikeLike
Thanks to everyone! I think Doctor Dan, the Bandage Man actually inspired the doctor obsession! How funny you mention that, Marya! Well, I am excited to announce . . . drum roll . . . we found one! It’s a 1988 version I believe, and I found it in library binding. Way to go everyone helping a crazed mom out!
LikeLike
Sounds like Emma and the Doctor, by Swedish author Gunilla Wolde, would be right up her alley. The three-year old here loves the Emma (and Thomas) books. They’ve been translated into English, and some of them (including this one about a kind doctor ) are available on Amazon.
LikeLike
Doctor Dan is the gateway drug to bandage abuse, is what.
LikeLike
no gateway needed, to bandage abuse, I’m afraid
LikeLike
This brings back fond memories of my then 3-year-old’s obsession with “Curious George Goes to the Hospital.” I’m not sure why I’m telling you all this; I’m just missing that little girl who loved to talk about barium.
LikeLike
don’t some of the Madeline books have doctors? I seem to remember an operation in one and a doctor’s visit (just a cameo) in Madeline to the Rescue.
LikeLike